We listened to the tape (12 hours) on a road trip for the past 2 days, and thoroughly enjoyed. It really took the boredom out of the trip, and kept us awake. Development of the characters and attention to detail were very good. The author's use of humor and sensitivity in dealing with a story of what seemed to be a "normal" family,which became unraveled as a result of the attention given to the daughter, who was successful in the spelling bee. The thing we couldn't agree on was the significance of the final spelling Bee, and whether that was intentional.